Monthly Archives: July 2005

something i never expected to find… believe it or not, rachel has a father. and that father has a blog, and that blog shows a father’s pride

of course, i can’t vouch for the reality here, but…

My life would have been relatively impoverished if I had not had the opportunity to watch my daughter grow into the incredible force of nature she’s become, and to enjoy the pleasure of her company. Still, I often look at her and still see her as the curly-headed little moppett she was 30 years ago.

In the class, I learned how to position my body so I could get a good twist of my hips, and a good whip of the scarf tassels. I felt like a Mediterranian queen as Egyptian beats vibrated from the boom box. Zahira instructed us from one dance step to another, stringing together a combination of movements that felt strangely natural.

Martin, who is also the president of the Brazos Valley Belly Dance Association and teaches belly dance lessons through the city of College Station, said the club’s mission includes more than just dancing.

“The main goal is just to provide students, faculty and staff a community so that they can belly dance or learn about the form of dance and come express their creativity,” Martin said.

Ninety percent of the women begin classes feeling self-conscious, often wearing baggy clothes and covering their bellies. But six weeks into the class, they begin to flower, said instructor Kathleen McCleneghan. They proudly show their bellies, enjoying the reflections that shimmy and slink along the mirrored walls.

In belly dance class, everyone is beautiful, and the dance is sensual.

Just looking like a belly dancer will make you feel beautiful, says Bozenka Arencibia-Torres, a Miami-based belly-dancing instructor. Belly dancing is an ancient art that dates back to 24,000 BC.

(I’m not sure what the “24,000BC” claim is based on, but… eh… I guess it’s possible. That would be around 20,000 years before the Sumerians really got going in Mesopotamia, and kinda right in the middle of the Upper Paelolithic) Continue reading →